effects. you want to flush the area out with water. >> dr. seigel stay with us. we have to take a break a. fertilizer plant has exploded in west texas. stay with us. >> this is a fox news alert. terror as a massive blast ripped through a fertilizer plant near waco, texas. the horrifying moment caught on cell phone video. look. >> well that fiery explosion leveled dozens of homes and businesses within a 5 block radius. >> and at this hour, emergency crews still moving people out of the area. we do know 200 people were hurt in this explosion, this fire. police are confirming that there are fatalities. they will not give a precise number yet as they expect the number of deaths to rise. >> welcome to "fox & friends

first". i am patti ann browne. >> i am heather cheryleds. -- heather childers. a town of 2800 people. half of the town has been evacuated so far as a result of this explosion that happened as at this fertilizer plant. we have been talking about the danger of the ammonia, anhydrous ammonia getting into the air. that's a major concern for responders and people living there as well. >> people are complaining of breathing problems as the toxic fumes spread. there's a talk of the change in the wind direction. they have already evacuated people on one side of this town 20 miles north ofwaco. they are talking about possibly evacuating others if the wind shifts directions this can be dangerous in terms of breathing. that is only one type of injury as you can see in the photograph. nearby you had a nursing home, you had a school which was vacant but which was apparently

decimated. you have an apartment complex that has 50 units also said to be nothing but a skeleton at this point and you had 50 homes. all of these were attempted to be evacuated. once the fire officials got there and realized there was a fire in this fertilizer plant and the potential for an explosion they started to evacuate people. apparently some people were still there when the explosion happened. some people saw the fire and drove toward it to see what was going on. they were in their cars they caught the scene on video. a huge mushroom cloud that could be seen and felt for many, many miles possibly as many as 70 miles away described like a tornado or like the oklahoma city bombing as one person said. the injuries we are seeing were people who had windows and doors broken out. we a they are looking for people who were trapped in their home.

>> all of this started as a fire. there was initially a fire at the plant. firefighters initially responded to the scene around 6:00 p.m. local time. 6:00 p.m. central time. then there was an explosion. the explosion happened roughly 2 hours later 8:00 p.m. that was reported 10-8 block radius that was affected initially as a result of all of this. >> we know there are confirmed fatalities as we said. officials are not willing to give a number now. when the fire happened there were 6 too 7 firefighters inside trying to get the fire under control and prevent the devastating explosion that we saw. both firefighters are unaccounted for. if indeed they passed away they died as heros trying to save the lives of everyone else in their town. possibly a police officer was inside that plant at the time of the devastating blast as well. so let's go right now live for a

closer look at the devastation. fox news reporter casey seigel joining us with the latest. hi, casey. >> heather, patti ann, good morning to you. we are set up in the media staging area. they are keeping us far away from the scene itself because of the dangers you were just highlighting. if there is a silver lining we understand from the latest press conference that happened about an hour and a half ago they told us that the fire at the fert liedzer pla -- fertilizer plantf is under control to a point where a small team of rescue crews could go in and get a closer look. the other big concern is not necessarily the fire that is comburning still at this hour because multiple structures caught fire at the wake of this blast but there is concern for the xhchemical toxins. the wind is blowing strong about

25 miles an hour right now. it is blowing to the south. there is concern, because we have some severe storms headed our way if you can believe that. that is only going to complicate the search and rescue and search and recovery missions that are underway as we speak. there is concern the wind will shift in the opposite direction, shift to the north. that means those toxic fumes would blow north and people on the north side of town would have to be evacuated. now the concern is people on the southern border of the fire that is still burning, not so much at the plant itself as we said, but some of the neighboring structures. we should tell you there is some interesting information that is about to surface about this particular fertilizer plant in west texas. it was cited back in 2006 by texas commission of environmental quality for failing to obtain for qualify

for a permit. it was investigated. some of the neighbors living around it reported at that time smelling a strong odor of ammonia in the air so they came out and investigated and a citation was issued. that's all we know about the path of this particular plant. that was in 2006. we have been showing you a u tube video of a man that was pulled off to the side of the road with a child in his vehicle. he was recording the fire burning the initial fire prior to the explosion and he caught it all on tape. it is all on youtube making the rounds no doubt going viral. let's show it to you again. >> you okay? >> dad. i can't hear. i can't hear. get out of here.

please get out of here. >> you can literally hear the panic in their voices. this kind of stuff doesn't usually translate on camera. i have heard a number of explosions in person and then i watch it back on tape later and it doesn't sound nearly as bad on tape. that sounds pretty bad you can only image what it was like to experience that in person. we are hearing from some of the first responders like a firefighter who talked to a member of the press earlier let's listen to what he had to say. >> i have never seen anything like this. it is part of the job. i mean sometimes it makes you nervous but you have to over come it. you have to help those who are less fortunate. >> some of the people coming out of there describe it as a war zone.

but again this happened at 8:00 p.m. central time, local time. 9:00 p.m. eastern so the sun was starting to go down. so after the initial explosion, by the time all of the crews could get in here especially the news helicopters, all of the aerial pictures we have so far are all in the darkness. night had already fallen. we are really going to get our sfirns of how widespread, how devastating and how big of an area we are tally talking about here once the sun starts to rise over the next couple of hours. mu and those initial teams can get in there, the helicopters will be up in the air and bring the first aerial pictures. by all accounts we are hearing blocks and blocks of this tiny community in between waco and dallas texas leveled by this explosion patti ann and heather.

>> casey seigel reporting live for us from the small town of west texas. >> casey, i wanted to ask you a question. you were talking about the timing of this. the explosion happened at 8 local time but there was a fire that happened first that was around 6:00 p.m. were there any contingencies in place such that when the fire started and they knew that that was happening at this fertilizer plant and residents were so nearby living close by to this potentially explosive situation, did they begin the evacuation prior to the explosion? i understand that they did. >> i have not heard that. obviously there are a lot of different accounts coming out of here. in the press conference i have been here for and able to monitor i have not heard that addressed. what they did say was there was some concern of those firefighters on the ground fighting that initial fire because it was burning either under or near those anhydrous

ammonia tanks. as we know that is an extremely volatile chemical. one would assume that if there was concern with the firefighters that would have been relaid out and they may have tried to move some people that were very close to this they would have tried to move them away in an effort to keep them safe. but i have not physically heard that just yet. we should point out there is a press conference that is scheduled, the next one at 6:00 a.m. local 7:00 a.m. eastern. we can hope to get a little more clarification in terms of what exactly happened in the moment leading up to this blast, guys. >> casey stegall thanks. we had a press conference from patrick swanson with the wake dco police department. he did say after the responders arrived at the fire and recognized there was the presence of anhydrous ammonia they recognized there was a danger they did begin evacuating people at that point. a woman was quoted in local

reports as saying when she saw the fire she started driving toward it to see if she could help out. two boys came in and said you can't come in here they are telling us all to leave because the fertilizer plant is on fire and there's a danger of explosion. people were told to leave the area prior to the blast itself. according to sergeant swanson they started evacuating people once they realized there was a potential for this devastation. >> it could have been potentially much worse. i asked that specific question because they know in texas what can happen at a fertilizer plant. the worst industrial accident that has ever happened in this country happened in texas at a fertilizer plant. happened on april 16th if that is ironic to you way back in 1947 in texas city texas at a fertilizer plant. it exploded similar to what is happening here today. in that explosion 581 people

died making it the deadliest industrial accident in american history. of course the number of deaths not being confirmed here so far. we do know there are deaths. we also know hundreds of people injured. >> obviously the investigation into how exactly this could happen is going to be ongoing. a large team of investigators from the u.s. chemical safety board the csb has been deployed to the scene. they are going to be looking into the cause. it's an independent federal agency and their whole job is to look into this type of industrial chemical accident. they say typically they are looking for physical causes, equipment failure, also regulation issues, et cetera, as casey mentioned this plant was sited in 2006 for a violation. that is many years ago. right now more questions than answers. >> as we wait to hear more information on all of that and the damage the mayor of west

texas asking for prayers at his town. there could be several dead including first responders. take a listen to the desperate dispatch call moment after the blast. >> a bomb just went off inside here. it is pretty bad. we have a lot of firemen down. >> firefighters down. >> sending everyone they could to the scene about two hours ago. the west waco fire department was able to gitional information. we understand the next news conference is not scheduled to happen until about 6:00 a.m. eastern time. >> now that we have been mentioning there have been concerns about the wind shifting

in the town of west texas which could mean more areas might have to be evacuated due to the possibility of toxic fumes which were unleashed by this blast. >> anhydrous ammonia. maria molina joins us with the weather. i was speak to go you earlier, winds could be a problem. any rain could help. you were mentioning the possibility of lightening which would not be a good thing. >> lightening would not be a good thing. also looking at the possibility some of these storms that could be impacting this region could pack a punch in terms of large hail and also more damaging wind gusts. 60 miles an hour. i want to talk about the wind. the current conditions in west texas are not good. we have the wind out of the south at 21 miles per hour. gusting to 29 miles per hour. any time you have a fire outdoors and you have windy conditions it will not help firefighters put thisso out it

will actually help spread the fire. the winds should continue to gust strongly through out the day today gusting as high as 35 mails per hour. as we head into friday strong winds are still forecast gusting to 25 miles per hour. the wind will continue to be a major problem as we head into the next 24-48-hours in this area of texas. west texas is to the north of waco, texas and south of the city of dallas between dallas and waco for those of you not familiar with the area. we have an approaching cold front. this will be a concern as far as any severe weather in the area. you see winds out of the south that's where we are seeing them. south winds mean from the south to the north so it will be blowing toward the north. the concern with that is if there are any chemicals being dispersed from the plant it could belowing more toward the north it could mean evacuations and firefighters may need to change location if we see them

shifting once the front pushes east. once the front pushes eastward and we are behind the front in west texas we will see the wind shift from the south to the north. we will blow it to the north from the south. strong winds gusting 35 miles per hour at times. severe weather is a major concern. we have a line of very strong storms to the west of west texasment you can see them right on the radar you can see them coming toward west texas. the timing on the storms when they are expected to arrive at 8 to 9:00 a.m. local time. that's what we are looking at here and areas of heavy rain as well across parts of west texas. >> ma rria molina thank you. joining us on the phone is robert who works three blocks away from where the blast happened. thank you for joining us this morning. a very difficult day. what can you tell us?

>> well, i was working in the kitchen at the steakhouse where i work at, the -- one of the waitresses said there was fire departments flying past, so the staff went outside to the streets to look down see where it was coming from what was going on. we looked down there we saw the fire a couple blocks away, the boss told us that we were going to close down early due to what was going on and everything. as me and joey the guy that i work with, we walked into the kitchen to go and cloels everything down and shut down the restaurant for the night and the lights went out and we heard this loud boom and the whole building just like moved and shifted and it caused us to fall over, trip all over the kitchen. we ran outside to see what was going on and what was happening and we saw smoke like a mushroom

cloud. (indiscernible snc (indiscernible). >> robert i am sorry. i am going to have to cut you off. we are hearing a lot of static from your cell phone. difficult to understand what you are saying. again, thank you for joining us this morning and best of luck to you. >> all right. thank you. >> possibly the wind. it sounds like he's outside somewhere and we were talking the storms moving into the area. any -- an explosion packing an extre extreme extremely loud force. it registered 2.1 on the richter scale. elizabe elizabeth prann has been covering this all night. we were just hearing from that witness there who works about 3 blocks away. people in the restaurant where he works they were knocked off of their feet when they felt the

explosion happen. >> people who aren't familiar west texas is right outside of waco about 80 miles from dallas. i have been reporting on this all night. folks who i spoke with were as far away as 20 miles even 30 miles they almost thought it was an earthquake. a lot of them tell us they felt the blast they walked outside of their homes all of their neighbors were outside in their driveway. it wasn't until they got on social media they realize the blast came from west texas from that fertilizer explosion they realized that was the source. a lot of folks tell us that a lot of folks work at west fert lieder. it -- fertilizer. the surrounding area was being evacuated at 8:00 p.m. when the blast occurred. it leveled 4 blocks around town. a first responder described the scene to us. listen.

>> the blast just missed the cousin. a few windows were knocked out, doors. >> it will take a lot of time before we gauge the destruction that took place. first responders are still on scene. they are going home to home. they are marking x's on homes that have been evacuated. it's a long road ahead for these folks. >> we have to clarify this for you. the town is now fully evacuated? >> no. excuse me. there's an 8-10 block radius that is evacuated. i didn't mean to say that. like you did mention with the wind shifting there is a chance more evacuations can take place but right now it's 8-10 blocks. we will continue to monitor it. thank you for clarifying. >> elizabeth prann, a long night

to for her covering this story. also on top of this story is a member of our own fox medical news a team dr. mark stegall. let's start with this anhydrous ammonia the chemical released into the air by the explosion which caused the explosion in the first place at the fertilizer plant. what is the possible damage done to people's breathing and is it long-term? >> anhydrous ammonia has hydrogen in it. it is highly combustible as a result of that. that's why we are very concerned about the fires and the wind can shift. back in 1947 there was a thousand buildings that went on fire because of this chiend of chemical n. terms of the medical effects of this you can see burns from it, it can cause loss of vision if you encounter it in your eyes. if it gets into your lungs it can effect breathing.

the treatment right away is oxygen getting air in there and using water to flush out affected areas. those are the key things that have to be done right away. that's just one part of it. the exposure to anhydrous ammonia. with the windows blowing out people have been exposed to glass fragments and doctors in the hospital are trying to get bl glass out. there have been fractures. elderly people involved. the widespread evacuation is helping a lot from a medical point of view obviously less people around that can be injured. >> back to the anhydrous ammonia. the folks who were treated immediately and got the oxygen and whatnot, are they expected to fully recover or is there any long-term problems? >> initially, patti ann, you see the risk of blistering, risk of loss of vision, problems with breathing. we have to follow them over days

with pulmonary function test. but if you are okay within the first 24-hours from the exposure you are likely to make it through the first day. it is pun gent it is colorless but it has a very, very characteristic smell to it. >> how long would it stay in the air? >> that's a good question. it can stay in the air for quite a while. with the winds blowing the positive side is it can blow it out of the area but it will spread it to the adjacent areas. it's all about how much exposure you can get. it's 100 parts per million that can cause major injury the more it is dispersed the less of a chance of injury as a result. >> dr. marc seigel thank you. >> there were about 54,000 pounds of the chemical we are talking about located at the west fertilizer.

there's a lot that could be dispersed into the air. we are joined by mike patel. he works at the econo lodge one town over and i understand that you were told to prepare for evacuees. has any one come to your hotel so far? any of the evacuees appear there? >> we have got a couple of people so far. i guess more to come as the night unfolds. >> you are located one town over. how many miles away are you? did you feel anything at the time of the explosion and can you smell anything in the air right now? >> right now, yes, there is still a little smell. and we are about 19 miles from west. >> how many miles? >> 19. >> 19 miles you still smell something in the air. what are the evacuees telling you? do they have any stories as to what they were experiencing in

west? >> no. just the fact that some of these guys they did feel the boom was way -- catastrophic and that a couple of guys told me that they are not sure if they are going to have their homes when they go back. >> the town of west it has 2800 residents it is a small tight knit farming community. what more can you tell us about the people of the town? >> they are great people. like you said it is a small community. everybody pretty much knows each other. it is a great town. unfortunately this has happened over there. >> mike patel joining us on the phone located nearby the town of west texas working at the econo lodge. they are being told prepare for evacuees. already having received a couple of them at their location.

thank you for joining us. appreciate it. >> you are welcome. thank you. >> we are continuing our live coverage of the fertilizer plant explosion in the town of west texas. a town of 2800 people located 70 miles south of dallas, 120 miles north of austin just to give you a little location there. you were mentioning the town it is known as the checkpoint of central texas. a lot of people from czechoslovakia originated from there and settled there in west texas. >> tough time for them right now and most likely going forward for quite sometime. long recovery ahead. stay with us. and i have diabetic nerve pain. i worked a patrol unit for 17 years in the city of baltimore. when i first started experiencing the pain, it's hard to describe because you have a numbness but yet you have the pain like thousands of needles sticking in your foot.

it was progressively getting worse, and at that point, i knew i had to do something. when i went back to my health care professional, that's when she suggested the lyrica. once i started taking the lyrica, the pain started subsiding. [ male announcer ] it's known that diabetes damages nerves. lyrica is fda approved to treat diabetic nerve pain. lyrica is not for everyone. it may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or woening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior. or swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, changes in eye sight including blurry vision, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling, or skin sores from diabetes. common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain, and swelling of hands, legs, and feet. don't drink alcohol while taking lyrica. don't drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. those who've had a drug or alcohol problem may be more likely to misuse lyrica. ask your doctor about lyrica today. it's specific treatment for diabetic nerve pain. to hear more of terry's story, visit lyrica.com.

it's specific treatment for diabetic nerve pain. anncr: and many of the tornado's victims are... without homes tonight. girl: first, i saw it on cable. then i read about it online. i found out how to help. i downloaded the info. i spoke up... and told my friends...

and they told their friends... and together, we made a difference. anncr: and tornado relief has been pouring in from... across the country. girl: we might be hundreds of miles apart... but because we're connected, it's like we're all neighbors. ...amelia... neil and buzz: for teaching us that you can't create the future... by clinging to the past. and with that: you're history. instead of looking behind... delta is looking beyond. 80 thousand of us investing billions... in everything from the best experiences below... to the finest comforts above. we're not simply saluting history... we're making it.

>> welcome back. we are continuing to follow breaking developments in west texas where a fertilizer plant has exploded. taking a look at the widespread destruction that is happening there. first responders on the scene. continued evacuations going door to door trying to find survivors. fox news reporter casey stegall joining us live. >> we have been telling you there was a press conference scheduled for 6:00 local time, 7:00 eastern. a police officer just came out and said they are going to be

holding an impromptu press conference in the next 7 or 8 minutes. that will happen just to my right hopefully we can bring you more information. i want to tell you i just got an e-mail from joy lynn one of our fox news producers in washington, d.c. who tells me the white house is obviously aware of this situation and that they are monitoring it through fema who has also been in contact with state and local officials that are responding. this has the eye of washington. many are sending tweets asking me where fema is right now. i would image they would be on their way or coming out here soon. this is a catastrophe that has happened at about 8:00 last night 9:00 eastern when this massive explosion rocked this tiny community of about 2800

people farming community 80 miles south of dallas texas. this explosion so large some people in south dallas, about 80 miles away thought it was an earthquake. they felt the ground actually shake all of the way up there. that gives you a sense for how powerful a concussion was experienced. we are hearing from some of the first responders who were up close paernld. let's hear from texas department of public safety who characterizes this thing as a battlefield. listen. >> i was there. i walked through the blast area. cinched some houses earlier tonight. just like iraq, just like the murray building in oklahoma city. anhydrous exploded so you can image what kind of damage we are looking at there. >> obviously this nation is on

high alert following the events of boston this week. it is important to point out the mayor of this community believes this was nothing more than an accident. this was not intentional. obviously a lot of people jump to conclusion and your mientd races about what we have been dealing with in the wake of the boston marathon attack. the mayor saying this was strictly an accident because there was a fire burning at the fertilizer plant near some anhydrous ammonia tanks. and then right there on the front lines they were trying to get the fire under control. they have set a press conference after they reviewed. they thought there was a danger. they started at that time to evacuate some of the residents close by. it really was too late. the next thing they knew this massive explosion. reports of a fireball shooting some 100 feet into the sky

almost difficult to get your mind around. we could see even with the cover of night austin, dallas, san antonio, we were seeing the plumes of smoke lingering across the road way and also a very strong chemical smell in the air, heather. we can't really smell it from where we are right now because winds picking up gusting upwards of 25 miles per hour. i want to correct myself. in the earlier live report i had it backwards. basically the winds are coming from the south which means those on the northern border are affected by the chemicals in the air. the concern is over the next couple hours as the front continues to move through the winds are going to change direction and they are going to

come from the north meaning the people living on the southern portion of the accident scene could potentially be evacuated. some of the first responders and emergency crews have been wearing respirators because of the danger and some reports of injuries coming from the hospital not just broken bones, scrapes, bruises but inhalation, people taking toxic fumes into their lungs and causing respiratory problems they are treating at the local hospitals as well. it looks like we are about to begin this press conference or what are we doing producers? we have the feed coming that we can take live? >> we are going to take the press conference the moment it starts. we are going to go live now. william staten from the waco

police department. ee oo those of you that are new to the briefing tonight that hadn't been here earlier i am william patrick stanton from waco police department. i have been asked to assist tonight. obviously west pd, the judge from this area, they are all very busy in the town town area working what they need to be doing. my job think point is to try to keep you here and give you as much information as i can and fill you in as best as i can. i know from doing a a couple of these asking you not to answer or not ask questions is not going to work. there are some things i will tell you i do not know. i won't rehash old stuff unless everybody needs that or there are folks here that need it. you are all aware of why we are here i am assuming. here is what i have so far.

we have verified the times are different from what we first thought. fire call came in at 7:29 local time. the west fire department responded to that call. it was in the process of working an akctive fire at the fertilizr plant. at 7:53 p.m. we got the first call of an explosion at the plant. those of you that have seen the video understand the devastating effects of that explosion. it was a significant explosion. i have talked to the troops that are on the ground there now that were going door to door and there are homes leveled, there are businesses leveled, there is massive devastation in the downtown west area. i will tell you at this point they are still in the search and rescue phase and they are

currently going from door to door, house to house, business to business still looking for wounded and injured people that have not been able to get out because of their injuries. i can't confirm numbers of casualties, but i can tell you we do have casualties. i can give you some numbers on injured folks from our hospitals. what i have at this point is that hillcrest hospital has treated at least 100 individuals with varying amounts of injuries. providence hospital has treated the upward numbers of 60 plus for the same types of injuries. scott white in temple has also received some injuries and they are working injuries from this explosion as well. the high school is our releaf center for the evacuees. that is where we are sending

people that are trying to find out about their loved ones. abbott high school again is the relief center for that. we know right now that clinton county sheriff's department is on the scene actively working this case along with atf who has been called in as well as several of the other local government agencies to assist. i will tell you at the beginning that this is a crime scene. we are not indicating that it is a crime but we don't know. what that means to us is that until we know it was an industrial accident we will work it as a crime scene. a af -- atf will conduct the main investigation at the fertilizer plant, but the sheriff's department will be investigating any of the deaths that resulted

from that explosion that occurred earlier this evening. there will be investigations by the clinton county. i don't have a hard-core number yet. i can tell you and confirm we are still missing several firefighters that were on the scene fighting the fire. the explosion occurred while they were actively trying to put the fire out. there was a law enforcement official on that scene as well that was working with the fire department in some type of capacity. until we know for sure who those individuals are in specific numbers i can tell you they range from 3-5 as far as the number of firefighters that are missing. the casualty numbers i don't have a hard number to give to you at this point. they are still working on that. i can tell you that it is

estimated anywhere from 5 to 15 at this point. i know that's a rough estimate but that's the best i can give you. i know some of you have questions, but what i will ask you to do is please let me call on you so we don't shout over each other. it's very difficult to hear as you all know with the generators and such. that brings you up to speed on where we are. i will tell you that that area down where the fertilizer plant is shut down, that neighborhood is shut down. i just talked to the mcclinton county chief deputy who has his troops there. he told me some of the devastation that his troops are seeing is that there are homes leveled. there are businesses leveled. he says it looked like when the blast occurred that the concussion and the pressure impact if that's the correct wording literally destroyed homes in and around that plant. we are again in the process of

search and rescue. that is going to continue for some time. we are hope that go we will recover folks that maybe have not been able to get out from the rubble. that will process is ongoing. at some point this will turn into a recovery operation but this point we are still in search and rescue. i know that the area is going to be shut down. they will not give me a time on how long. i don't expect them to be able to give you an idea of how long any time soon. in these types of investigations there is no hurry short of getting the injured out and treating the wounded to complete anything. they will take the necessary time they need. they will keep the neighborhood shut down and i will tell you as media i know you are itching to get there but it is not a good idea. mainly for your safety we are

asking that you stay put. at some point this morning i will kick it over to somebody from west. it has been my understanding that either the mayor will come back or a city official at some point will be here to address you. i have heard 10:00 for that time. so those of you that need to be here please be here at 10:00 and some official from the city of west will be here to address you in a little bit more detail on what's going on from there. again at this point, they are working it as a search and rescue. they will continue to do that for an unpress fied amount -- unspecified amount of times until they have exhausted all means of finding people. what that will end upturning into is an investigative mode and they will keep the area shut down. atf will start working the fertilizer plant as a crime scene. the clinton county so along with

their resources will start going house to house and work to turn up any deaths that have happened because of the explosion. i will take questions let me call on you please and speak loud enough so i can hear. >> why call this a crime scene from the beginning, why not a different way. >> better crawl it a crime scene and industrial accident. we always start looking at worse case scenarios. that's what we are doing here. i can tell you i have heard no indications that this was anything other than an accidental fire. however, the investigators in this case have not been able to get inside and see and determine what the source of the fire was, where it came from, whether it was intentionally set or not. >> is there anything to indicate

from the radio traffic that it would have been intentionally set? >> nothing at this point indicates we have this criminal activity. however we are not absolutely not ruling that out. the investigators will keep an open mind and they will determine as they get through this investigation. >> was this all volunteer fire department? >> i don't have an answer to that question. i am not sure. >> (inaudible question). oo >> i know they had their apparatus there. >> you said 15-20 casualties, you are taking fatalities. >> i didn't say 15-20. i said 5-15 are casualties. >> we have been listening to this news conference here. and he is still briefing the media. >> that was again sergeant

patrick stanton. he drastically changed the time line of what happened here. originally the police stated the first calls of a fire at that plant came in around 6:00 p.m. lo local time in texas. the explosion happened two hours later at 8:00 p.m. he dramatically revised that. the first call of the fire didn't come in until 7:29 and the explosion happened at 7:53 just 24 minutes later which explains why their efforts to evacuate people from the area were not completely successful. so the fire started and it only took 24 minutes for the fire to ignite the anhydrous ammonia and caused that very serious explosion. >> also clarifying the number of people anywhere from 5-15 individuals. many believed to be dead were the first firefighters to

respond to the initial fire at the scene. those apparently a group of volunteer firefighters who had responded and still being reported as missing. but again sergeant swan ton saying 5-15 people believed dead as a result of this explosion that has happened at this fertilizer plant in west texas. >> joining us right now on the phone we have heather beck is spokeswoman for providence hospital in waco, one of the hospitals that took in nanny of the injured. thank you for joining us. how many patients have you treated? >> 67 -- 65 patients. of the 6512 we ha, 12 we have a. >> we are seeing broken bones, lacerations, bruises, some respiratory distress and head injuries and minor burns. >> are any of those patients in critical or life threatening condition? >> we have one patient in critical condition but i am

thankful to report that patient's status has been upgraded to stable. >> what would you say the ratio of actual impact injuries of people who were cut by glass from broken windows and shrapnel and whatnot verses those who are there because of having inhaled these toxic fumes from the anhydrous ammonia. >> we have been so focused on treating these patients i don't have the specific details. i know i will know more as the day progresses about the specific nature of the injuries coming in. >> at this point you haven't been taking in any one new because as we heard frthe serget they are going door to door looking for people that have been trapped. >> we did have quite a busy evening from 8:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. since 2:00 a.m. we have not seen any new patients. >> from what i understand one of the difficulties here in evacuating people and also to get people to the hospitals is the fact that the roads, a lot of them are dirt roads and there

aren't that many of them and these roads quickly became jammed up but mainly with emergency vehicles, was that a major difficulty? was there a delay in people arriving to your hospital? >> we saw them arrive from 8:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. we are 26 miles away from west so it takes sometime for people to get here. we took quite a few in by personal vehicle. a lot of people picked them up and brought them here. the emergency responders had their hands full. >> heather beck of providence hospital. best of luck to you as your town tries to recover from this. >> thank you. >> we want to switch gears for just a moment. another developing story a fox news alert for you. fox news confirms the fbi has cleared two photos of two people of interest in the boston

marathon bombing. molly lion is live for us in boston. back and forth all day yesterday into the evening in terms of the possibility of these two suspects that there were photos and thisreleased. what is the latest you are hearing? >> the information we have law enforcement are looking for two of the people at the scene in the moments before the explosions went off. the fbi sharing these images with other law enforcement officials not with the public at this time. but the men's faces are clearly visible in the photos. rick they have enthall our senior correspondent was shown these photos by law enforcement. he describes these images as clear. this is what they have been telling us all along. they have been calling since the moment the investigation began for the public to come forward with various images they may have of the crime scene and of

the moments before the blasts actually occurred. the information we are getting is some of these images may be helpful in this investigation and they are zeroing in on some of the people in these pictures. the president and first lady will be arriving in boston for an interfaith ceremony. they will be joined with leaders from all different denominations including those of the jew i be and isl-- jewish and islamic fa. they have signed an emergency declaration for massachusetts. >> molly lion reporting on the latest from boston. >> we are going to go right now back to the police department with sergeant patrick swan ton wi son /* with the waco police. >> fortunately they are again as i said a very tight knit group here in this community. they have already pulled together.

i would like to mention again not only have we had local fire, rescue, police, medical services but we have had assistance from the dallas fort worth metroplex as well. there has been an outpouring of support from law enforcement, fire, medical, red cross is here. from my understanding the governmental agencies are here sa assisting. fema has been aware. all of those issues will work out at a certain point in time. our main goal and main function is to rescue those we can rescue and get them the medical help they can need and help those people start surviving. >> do you have a number of the staffing at the time in the plant? >> i don't have a number of staffing. i haven't even heard they were in the process of shutting down, had a skeleton crew there, i don't know that information. >> are there rescue and cadaver dogs making their way through the area? >> there will be at some point.

aft will bring explosive dogs in. i am guessing at some point depending on the devastation to the homes businesses may use dogs to help. >> (inaudible question) >> i think that's a safety concern just for that area. we would much rather folks remain in homes, certainly we don't want people wandering the neighborhood. obviously there will be concerns of people coming into the neighborhood and trying to sight see. this is not the time to do this. this town has suffered a devastating set back they will recover from. they need more support than they need people wandering site sght seeing through that you are homes. >> (inaudible question)

>> i had a report from some of my cohorts that a seismic graph in amarillo texas registered a 2.5 on their richter scale. i can tell you from seeing some of the video i have seen from talking to some of the people i have talked to tonight it was a huge explosion. the devastating fact of that comes from the concussion, the shock waves that reached out from that. it reached blocks if not miles in its devastating effects. >> (inaudible question) >> the question was do we expect the number to grow in the number of casualties? i don't know. 5-15 is a significant number for a town this size.

my guess would be daylight if we assess a little bit more. we would like to say we hope not. we are going to hope for the best and prepare for whatever we come across. >> (inaudible question) >> the officers that were searching the areas are using that. i can't tell you what the symbols are but i understand they are color coded and that symbolizes they have found homes that they have cleared, searched. they have recovered somebody out of the home or somebody deceased in the home would be my guess. >> i am assuming that it is cleared but i am not for sure. >> (inaudible question)

>> you know, for lack of a better cliche if a crow flies, if you will, probably 2, 3 miles from fertilizer plant roughly, 3 mile from the fertilizer plant. it is on the other side of the interstate and as you see the lights that are across the interstate now, that is a fair ground football field. that is where they initially took some casualties. the site of the blast is more toward the north side of town but it is not far from that at all. millage as far as the inside of the west 2800 in numbers 2800 plus the city of west itself is not huge. again thank you for your patience with me. i will tell you that as i get

somebody here to relieve me at some point this morning i will get them introduced to you. >> we have been listening to sergeant patrick swan ton swant been handling the press conference for the fertilizer plant explosion. we are investigating it as a crime scene that is not due to any kind of information that would suggest that. they just err on the side of referring to it as a crime scene. so far a basic industrial accident. >> with everything going on in the world today people understandably concerned the possibility of some sort of crime happening there soming first to people's minds following the explosions that have happened in boston and the ricin letters marrie mailed to e capitol in washington, d.c. the

didn't clarifying tllhere is no indication other than accidental fire at this time. they are not ruling out criminal activity. it is better to label it as a crime scene first and an industrial accident later. >> to recap the events that started last night in the town of west texas there is a fertilizer plant the west fertilizer plant at around 7:29 p.m. local time they got calls of a fire at that plant and firefighters responded. they immediately recognized the danger of a possible explosion. they did try to get the area evacuated but didn't have much time. 24 minutes later at 7:53 p.m. there was a massive explosion.

we know there are fatalities possibly 5-15. >> 5-15 fatalities. the firefighters volunteers who initially responded to the fire on the scene. 160 injuries also being reported through out the hour. we spoke to as many different hos tablet facilities ... >>gretchen: good morning. fox news alert for you. we're following three major breaking news stories this morning. first this explosion you've